Taren was stumped…she was known to them? ‘Yes.’
The two women stepped aside and the VIP at the centre of the huddle leaned forward. ‘You will be seeking political asylum,’ the woman whispered in a mature voice that was calm and confident. ‘Phemoria will be sanctuary to you.’ She placed a smooth, partly, transparent stone in Taren’s hand and straightened up to be shielded once again by her bodyguards.
‘What—’ Taren looked at the stone, bemused, whereupon all five women brought a finger to rest against their veiled lips.
‘Shhh,’ they cautioned, turned and departed.
Taren was in confusion after the encounter. ‘What in the stars was that all about?’
She looked at the stone in her hand. It was extremely eye-catching, shot through with waves of iridescent colour.
Taren was mesmerised by its beauty for a moment.
‘Lucian,’ she gasped. He was going to think she’d stood him up! She popped the stone in her clutch bag.
On the way back to the table, Taren wondered if the encounter had been the Phemorian way of inviting her to take up residency on their home planet. The official had said that Taren would seek politica asylum, which sounded rather more drastic than applying for residency. But how could they know what she would be seeking, when she didn’t even know—unless the women of Phemoria were trained in the Powers?
They’d never agreed to maintain a Psychic Monitor Database on their planet and many people with the Powers, even men, from other systems were said to be hiding out in the cities of Phemoria. Although the men did not qualify for citizenship, their visas would be extended so long as they stayed on the right side of the law. On the other hand, perhaps the women had access to confidential information; perhaps they knew Taren would be implicated in the demise of Maladaan! Her heart began thumping, but Taren reined in her fears realising her imagination was running away with her. The Phemorian language was very different to those spoken on Maladaan, so sometimes a message got lost in translation. She could well be panicking over nothing bar a lovely invitation. Perhaps they admired her work? Which led her to wonder if they might be interested in funding AMIE.
As Taren dwelt on that promising scenario, she looked ahead to the dinner table to find Lucian was not where she had left him. She looked around the huge restaurant and then down to the boardwalk, but she couldn’t see him anywhere. A tall, fair-skinned man like Lucian was hard to miss here on Frujia, where most of the locals were either black-or red-skinned, or tanned to deep bronze, and generally smaller in stature.
She expected that her date would return presently and so took a seat to sip on her drink and watch the rest of the colour drain from the sky. Sunsets were something you really missed in space and the view across the ocean was an image Taren felt she would never forget. It would have been a lovely romantic moment to be sharing with her date. Where had he disappeared to?
Another glance around, with no sign of Lucian, brought Taren’s thoughts back to the stone, which she retrieved from her purse. It dazzled her eyes with its rainbow lustre; she’d never seen anything like it.
The stitch in his side finally forced Lucian to give up the chase. ‘I have got to get back in shape,’ he gasped, as he found a wall to lean against and catch his breath. Five years in space had taken more of a toll on his physique than he had realised. As Swithin’s rough ways often landed him in trouble, his brother had learned to keep fit and light on his feet. ‘I must have been insane to think I could run him down on foot.’ He’d just keeled forward, hands on knees, to recover when his communicator rang—the readout indicated that the mode was audio only and the caller was unknown. Lucian took the call and took a wild guess. ‘Swithin.’
‘You always were slower than a shopping pod.’
‘What did you do?’ Lucian was immediately infuriated.
‘I didn’t get a chance to do anything! The MSS knocked me off, or didn’t you hear?’
Lucian stopped short of exposing everything he’d discovered about his brother. ‘How did you escape Maladaan?’
‘Plain, pure-arse luck,’ Swithin laughed. ‘With the MSS wanting to blow me to kingdom come, I figured I needed to get out of the system pronto. So, twice over, I’m a dead man still walking and nobody knows but you.’
Lucian took a deep breath. He wanted to tear shreds off Swithin, but if he let loose at this point he’d miss his best chance to trap him.
‘Luc, bro. Just let me walk and you’ll never see me again.’
Lucian was really struggling now, his welling emotions demanding tears or rage. He gritted his teeth instead. ‘Why did you come looking for me?’
‘I didn’t. I came looking for that sweet young thing you’re with. I still know her code name, you see.’
Horror struck at Lucian’s heart like daggers, tearing open old wounds and inflicting a few new ones.
‘I planned to reprogram that clever psychic mind of hers to adore and protect me.’
Lucian had to cover the receiver and take a few breaths. Had Swithin done the same thing to Amie, brainwashing her into being his lover and stooge?
‘But if you’ve got something going on, hey, I’m prepared to leave well enough alone…provided you are?’
There was no way Lucian was going to refuse his brother before he had Taren in his sights. ‘Of course,’ Lucian conceded, already making haste back to the hotel restaurant.
Swithin laughed. ‘I know you well enough to know that you would never agree to something so amoral so easily…I believe I shall need some insurance.’
He hung up on Lucian, who hastened his pace up the stairs to the first level of the hotel. The table was as unoccupied as he’d left it.
Zeven could hardly believe that Leal was opting out of going clubbing with him. They’d been in space for years. How could ‘getting laid’ not be his highest priority? His co-pilot had given him some lame excuse about not feeling well and having to rest up for a few days—doctor’s orders.
Thus it was that Zeven found himself entering the hotel club alone, also with doctor’s orders that, due to his psychic affliction, he was not allowed to drink any alcohol.
The sole purpose of this outing was to find a little companionship for the evening, and the pilot’s gaze was immediately drawn to two blondes, both dressed all in white, chatting in close quarters at the bar. As Zeven approached he was delighted to discover that one of the women was Rory. He barely recognised her in a sexy mini-dress and high-heeled ankle boots. Her hair had been bleached white and styled, and her make-up made her look much more sultry and mature than she really was. Zeven was almost sorry he’d broken off with her. Her new friend was something else again…a real siren. Zeven had to get an introduction.
Before he reached the pair, the siren whispered something to Rory who turned to eyeball him. A quick whispered conversation ensued ahead of his arrival.
‘Starman,’ she acknowledged coolly. ‘So they’ve let you loose on the poor unsuspecting women of Frujia, unsupervised. Where is Leal?’
Zeven grinned at her dig—he should have suspected she would not give him a sterling reference. ‘He’s a little under the weather. You, however,’ he attempted to butter her up a little, ‘look good.’
‘She looks awesome.’ Rory’s new friend corrected his understatement.
‘I’d look more awesome with your tan,’ Aurora said, returning the compliment.
‘No way, my skin is like leather,’ her friend insisted, caressing Rory’s cheek with the backs of her fingers. ‘Your complexion is perfect.’
Zeven felt uncomfortable suddenly. Why did he feel like he was interrupting something? This chick was not the slightest bit interested in him, only in Aurora. He was slightly amused by this, and after being introduced to Kalayna, he stood back and observed for a bit, just to be sure he wasn’t mistaken.
When the girls went to the bathroom and Rory returned first, Zeven thought he’d best enlighten her. ‘I think your girlfriend is interested in being more than ju
st your friend.’
‘So what if she is?’ Aurora said nonchalantly, and finished off her drink.
Zeven was a little taken aback by Rory’s attitude.
‘Is there a problem?’ she asked bluntly.
‘It’s not right.’ He forced a grin, rather stunned to be having this conversation with Aurora, the sweet little girl next door.
‘What’s not right?’ Kalayna asked as she joined them.
‘Girl-on-girl love.’ Rory mocked Zeven’s phobia and sidled closer to Kalayna.
‘Yeah, it’s wrong unless you get to watch, right?’ Kalayna’s query brought a smile to Zeven’s dial.
‘Exactly right.’ Was that an invitation?
‘In your dreams, flyboy.’ Kalayna laughed and looked at Aurora. ‘Let’s dance.’
Aurora nodded with enthusiasm, and as she was led to the floor, she waved Zeven goodbye and blew him a kiss.
The pilot took a seat at the bar and watched the two women slithering up and down against each other on the dance floor, but when they started kissing, Zeven had to get out of there. More air was needed, and heading upstairs he emerged onto the boardwalk to breathe the night’s warm sea breeze.
‘Am I insane?’
Watching two women get it on should have been a perfect night’s entertainment for him, so why did he feel angry? Was this jealousy? Zeven compared how he felt about Taren having dinner with the captain tonight with how he felt about Rory being seduced by a woman. Weighing up the two scenarios, he was quite startled to discover that Rory’s seduction pissed him off more.
‘It’s probably just some experimental phase she’s going through—’
‘Zeven!’
The pilot turned at the sound of his captain’s voice, and was surprised to see Lucian in a state of distress. ‘I need you to help me find Taren.’
‘Why? Is she missing?’ Zeven was confused. ‘Weren’t you having din—’
‘Swithin is alive,’ Lucian advised him abruptly. ‘And he still knows Taren’s code name. If he manages to get close enough to her to use it, or even gets her on a communicator, he could brainwash her into doing whatever he wants.’
‘Are you shitting me?’ Zeven owed her his life. ‘When was the last time you saw her?’
‘She left to powder her nose about an hour ago and as far as I know she did not return.’
Zeven was not entirely opposed to the idea of getting an inside view of the ladies room, and headed off in that direction.
Lucian pulled him up. ‘I’ve already checked. She’s not in there.’
‘Really!’ Zeven was surprised. The captain must be very concerned for Taren’s safety if he’d gone barging into the ladies room in search of her. ‘Did any of the waiters see her leave?’ Zeven asked as they headed back into the hotel.
Lucian shook his head. ‘Nobody noticed anything.’
‘Well, she can’t have just disappeared!’ Zeven objected.
‘I’ve had them call her room and no answer, and I was just on my way to check her room when—’ Lucian broke off mid-sentence.
Ahead of them, the current chairman of the USS Council, Jabez Anselm, who was also the long-standing President of Sermetica, exited the elevator amid a throng of bodyguards.
‘Isn’t that President Anselm?’ Zeven boggled at the small army that the man required just to go to dinner.
‘The most powerful and influential man alive,’ Lucian advised quietly as they moved out of the path of the crowd.
‘Professor Gervaise?’ Anselm sidetracked when he noticed Lucian waiting to get past. ‘We meet again.’ He held out a welcoming hand and shook Lucian’s firmly.
‘Mr Chairman.’ Lucian forced a smile, unhappy at being delayed from his search for Taren. ‘May I introduce Zeven Gudrun, AMIE’s chief pilot.’
‘So you are the hero we will be honouring at tomorrow’s memorial service,’ he said, shaking Zeven’s hand.
The pilot was gobsmacked by this news and looked to Lucian, who smiled and frowned in apology. He’d forgotten to mention to Zeven that he’d been recommended for a medal of honour.
‘By tomorrow evening everyone in the USS will know your name, son,’ Anselm told him.
Zeven, who normally sought out the limelight, was more apprehensive about notoriety now that he had acquired his little problem. ‘That’s really not necessary. I’m just pleased to have survived and spared—’
‘The few surviving people of Maladaan, and all those who lost loved ones in this disaster, need heroes to look up to at this time…heroes like you two gentlemen.’
Anselm had a strong and commanding presence. He was as tall as Lucian, and might have been as fair-skinned, but life on the desert planet had tanned him a deep shade of brown. He was an extremely fit, confirmed bachelor, who, with his rugged good looks, short dark locks and steely blue eyes, was always sought after by women. Needless to say, the Phemorians usually sought to avoid him at all costs. The men of Sermetica and the women of Phemoria tolerated each other, as required by the USS guidelines, but underneath this public accommodation, the two planets were bitter enemies and rivals.
Lucian and Zeven both felt uncomfortable being praised, knowing more about what had truly happened on Maladaan than the leader of the free world.
‘That was a truly miraculous mission you flew.’ The president’s curious emphasis made Zeven very uncomfortable. ‘I can hardly wait to hear how you managed to free yourself from the greatest gravitational force in the known universe.’
The conversation was getting difficult and even Lucian noticed that Anselm seemed to be probing.
Zeven was painfully aware that both Frujia and Sermetica had their own Psychic Monitor Databases and were as ruthless in rooting psychics out of their communities as the authorities on Maladaan had been. ‘The tracker beam from the inter-system station on the Maladaan side of the gateway aided to pull me about and get my craft away.’
‘That assistance was never reported,’ Anselm replied.
‘How else could it have been done?’ Zeven said in all seriousness and the president smiled.
‘How indeed?’ He raised both brows.
‘This all unfolded only moments before everyone at the station were forced to evacuate,’ Zeven said hastily. ‘If anyone deserves a medal, it’s those guys.’
‘The crew of ISG-6 didn’t manage to make it through the gate before it was sucked into the anomaly and destroyed,’ Anselm advised solemnly. ‘So I guess we’ll just have to take your word for what unfolded in the Maladaan system in those final moments. Even if you do not feel you are a hero, Mr Gudrun, you would most certainly concede that you are the luckiest man alive.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Zeven agreed, having no desire to extend their discourse.
‘I look forward to our next meeting, gentlemen. Have a good evening.’
Both men breathed a sigh of relief as Anselm and his crowd of people moved on and the focus was taken away from them.
‘That was intense,’ Zeven commented, his eyes still firmly planted on the departing diplomat. ‘Do you get the feeling he knows something we don’t?’
‘One does get that impression. Well done.’ Lucian slapped his pilot’s back and got them moving in the direction of the hotel elevators.
They searched all night and found no trace of Taren, and by dawn the two men were starting to fear the worst.
Lucian contacted Ringbalin, who was still on board AMIE, and asked him to search the vessel and see if there was any sign that Taren had returned there. The captain then contacted his key crew—Kassa, Leal and Aurora—and called a staff meeting in his hotel room, not mentioning his reasons for doing so.
Aurora arrived with a very evident ‘high on life’ attitude. ‘Good morning all, fabulous day, isn’t it?’
‘I’ve seen better,’ Zeven commented, half falling asleep in an armchair.
Aurora was not fazed by his indifference. ‘Aw, what’s wrong, Starman, didn’t you get lucky last night?’
Zeven f
inally looked at her. ‘Actually, no, last night was extremely unlucky.’
Aurora would have bantered and teased him more, but she detected that something was seriously wrong. ‘What’s happened now? Are we losing the project?’ She switched her gaze to Lucian, just as the room intercom advised that Leal and Kassa were at the door.
‘No, we haven’t lost the project, not yet, anyway.’ Lucian answered the door to admit the last of his most trusted colleagues into their midst. ‘But I do have a couple of other problems I could use a little help brainstorming.’ He closed the door behind them.
Having recounted what had happened the night before, Lucian put it to his crew: ‘So, do I call the authorities?’
‘This situation is getting more and more complicated. I know we want to expose Swithin, but how do we do that without exposing our own misguided involvement in Maladaan’s disappearance?’ Kassa asked.
‘We were involved in the disappearance of Maladaan?’ This was news to Aurora.
‘We can’t be certain of anything until we get our hands on Swithin.’ Lucian was unsure what his next move should be. He was so tired he could no longer think clearly.
‘You would think,’ Leal offered, ‘that if Swithin had successfully managed to abduct Dr Lennox, he would have called to intimidate and prevent you from reporting anything to the authorities.’
Lucian felt this was a good point, but was prevented from saying so as he accepted a call from Ringbalin. Lucian held up his communicator to view the scientist onscreen. ‘Have you found something?’
‘Does this look familiar?’ Ringbalin held up a clutch bag.
‘Taren had that with her last night,’ Lucian confirmed. ‘Where did you find it?’
‘In her quarters here on AMIE. I rang her communicator and followed the ring tone…there is no sign of Dr Lennox, however.’
‘I’m on my way,’ Lucian advised.
Zeven snapped to attention as he overheard this. ‘But the memorial is in an hour or so. How are we going to—’
‘We are not going anywhere. You all attend the memorial as planned and give anyone who might ask my sincere apologies.’ Lucian headed out the door alone before anyone could argue.
Being of the Field Page 20